Gulf War Newsletter - Winter 2017
Our View: Trail of Togus troubles points to deeper VA woes
A 'dangerous' doctor's actions call into question whether the agency
What the VA Doesn’t Get About Mental Health and Drug Treatment
Something that is still poorly understood is how Veterans Affairs (VA) and other federal agencies
have contributed to the opiate epidemic by not effectively addressing one of the thorniest
problems in health care: the intersection between drug treatment and mental health care.
About 50 percent of the most severely mentally ill people also have a substance abuse
problem, while a little over half of drug addicts have at least one serious mental illness.
Families of fallen soldiers blast Donald Trump for saying past presidents never called them
DONALD Trump is under fire from the families of fallen soldiers after
making an extraordinary claim about past presidents.
Social Security benefits to rise by 2 percent in 2018
Retirees, VA Disability Recipients to Get Biggest Pay Raise Since 2012
That time John Kelly dined with Obama, though White House said he didn’t call
Trump exploits John Kelly’s dead son to back up his Obama falsehoods
Trump uses his chief of staff’s grief to claim Obama didn’t call parents of fallen soldiers
Get To Work! How To...
How To How To Apply For SSDI
How To Apply For TDIU Unemployability
How To Use DBQs
Disability Benefits Questionnaires
How To Apply For A Disability Rating
How To Apply For An Increase
Learn a few tips and tricks to help you
easily find information on Google
Click For A Free Case Evaluation
Making a military widow cry: that is a classic Trump move
Report: Trump Offered Gold-Star Father $25,000, But Didn’t Follow Through
Trump sends $25,000 check to fallen soldier's family on same day as Washington Post report
Bad fridge at San Diego VA means up to 1,500 got ineffective flu shots
VA owes $1.5 million in unpaid ambulance bills, county says
Sasse: Omaha VA's refusal to answer questions 'unacceptable'
Veterans dismayed by Trump's urge to 'punch back' in feud
War veterans deploy themselves to help Puerto Rico relief
Trump used the phrase 'my generals,' and the military community isn't happy
Trump has repeatedly politicized military service and sacrifice
Trump's Gold Star Widow Call Is Just His Latest Insult to Military Veterans
Report: VA Secretary Shulkin interviewed for HHS secretary role
The much-liked holdover from the Obama administration is a top
contender to fill the position abruptly left vacant by Tom Price.
Families of fallen soldiers slam Trump for saying past presidents never called them -
as one reveals Bush 'listened while I screamed at him and then held me as I sobbed'
The sister of a soldier killed in the Iraq War has some
very strong words for Donald Trump
@realDonaldTrump When my brother was killed, Pres Bush listened while I
screamed at him & then held me as I sobbed, you fat fucking liar.
VA hospitals are struggling with staffing shortages, workers say
Nebraska-Western Iowa VA kept secret waiting list for some mental health appointments
VA secretary promises in writing not to cut benefit program for disabled vets
Shulkin sent a letter to veterans groups stating the VA “does not support a termination”
of the Individual Unemployability benefit program, which is available to
veterans who are unable to secure a job because of a disability.
SWEET: Trump exploits the death of his chief-of-staff’s Marine son
There is no bottom to how low President Donald Trump can go.
What decent person is so insensitive to use the tragic death of a child to score political points?
That’s Trump, the commander-in-chief. He exploited the death of a soldier —
a son of his top staffer no less — to take another swipe at Obama.
VA releases plans for sweeping health care overhaul
Veterans Affairs officials on Monday presented Congress with their formal plan to ease rules
concerning veterans seeking medical appointments outside the VA system at government
expense, potentially sending tens of thousands of new veterans into the private sector for care.
Now is a terrible time for Trump’s VA secretary to abandon his post
A long-awaited overhaul of veterans’ health care is being unveiled to the world. At the helm
throughout the two years of developing this road map has been David J. Shulkin. As the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs is finally on the cusp of rolling out its master plan to ensure every
veteran has access to timely, quality care, the VA secretary reportedly is interviewing for another job.
As the Wall Street Journal revealed Friday, the White House brought Shulkin in last week to discuss
having him take over the Department of Health and Human Services, a post left vacant by the
abrupt resignation of Tom Price. (VA did not confirm or deny the Journal’s reporting.)
The American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association announced it is reviewing a proposed
rule by the Department of Veterans Affairs published in the Oct. 16 Federal Register.
Memo: Secret wait list kept for some Omaha VA appointments
A nurse’s aide plays video games while a veteran dies at Bedford VA hospital
Trump fires back after McCain attacks 'spurious nationalism'
US President Donald Trump has issued a warning to Senator John McCain a day after
his fellow Republican delivered a thinly veiled attack in a speech. "People have to be careful
because at some point I fight back," Mr Trump told a Washington radio station on Tuesday.
VA whistleblower: Agency is trying to "scare me away' through retaliatory actions
VA seeks ‘narrow’ exemption to for-profit college ethics law
WHEN IT COMES TO VETERANS’ HEALTH CARE,
VETERANS MUST COME BEFORE THE VA
When our troops go into battle, they focus on accomplishing their mission. Providing health
care to veterans should work the same way. Veterans’ health care reforms should answer how
veterans can be served best. Unfortunately, too many people in Washington are more
concerned with maintaining the VA’s institutional status than giving veterans the best care.
This mindset jeopardizes care for our heroes who should be receiving quality,
timely care from the doctor or hospital of their choice.
The Current Approach Is Not Working
Intel - OP/Ed
News & Information
Aljazeera
British Broadcasting Corporation
Business Insider
Central Intelligence Agency
Electronic Reading Room
Choice Program Billing Issues
1-877-881-7618 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET
The Code of Federal Regulations Title 38
Courthouse News
Ann Coulter
CNN Sources
"Contact Your Representative!!!"
Who are my representatives?
Everything You Need To Survive
Contact Your Representative
Discharges & Military Records
(DTRA)
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
My HealtheVet Website
ebenefits
NICS Veterans 2nd Amendment Rights
Home Based Primary Care (HBPC)
Independent Expert Medical Opinions
Marijuana & VA DRUG TESTING & VA
M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual
National Personnel Records Center
New Outreach for Vets Regarding
Discharges & Military Records.
Project-Syndicate
Records of the Veterans Administration [VA]
U.S. Medicine
Veterans Benefits Administration
Fact Sheets
VA urges veterans to be
screened for hepatitis C
VA’s Airborne Hazards and Open Burn
Pit Registry for Veterans and Servicemembers
VA Payment for Emergency Care
Veterans Benefits Administration
Benefit Brochures
Veterans injured by service wait
years for compensation hearings
Washington Post
Washington Times
Welcome to Military Disney Tips!
World Net Daily
World Public Opinion
You Can't Make This Stuff Up
Sioux Falls VA reverses course,
destruction of compensation claims
Training book used for VA: 'How To Lie With Statistics'
Larry Scott broke this story October 13, 2008 and the VA
has been in reaction mode ever since
Professionals to Expand Access for Veterans
Those who cannot learn from history
are doomed to repeat it.
Disability Service Connection
Secondary Service Connection
IncreasedDisability Compensation
Temporary Total Disability Rating
Individual Unemployability
Compensation under 38 U.S.C. 1151
Special Monthly Compensation
Specially Adapted Housing
Special Home Adaptation
Automobile Allowance/Adaptive Equipment
Benefits Based on a Veteran's
Seriously Disabled Child
VA Form 21-0958 - NOD
Notice of Disagreement
VA Form 21-534 EZ
Application for DIC, Death Pension
Change of Address
Add Your Dependents
Declaration of Status of Dependents
TDIU Annual - VA Form 4140
VAWatchdog Dot Org
America's Leading Resource For Military Veterans News & Benefits Information
Since 2005 This Is The Site VA Reads When They Want To Learn What They've Been Doing
Welcome Aboard!
How To Manage Department of Veterans Affairs Disabled Veterans Benefits
VA proposes Choice program overhaul that eliminates 30-day/40-mile rule
The Department of Veterans Affairs sent a bill proposal to Congress that would overhaul
how veterans receive health care in the private sector and do away with the
widely criticized “30-day/40-mile” rule, the agency announced Monday.
Our View: VA failings to treat vets simply don't stop
New revelations of abuse cover-ups
Now we’re once again confronted with a revelation that the VA has been covering
up the abuses of many of its own health-care practitioners who have badly served patients.
Trump finally comments on soldier deaths in Niger;
falsely knocks Obama over his responses to dead soldiers
Breaking his public silence about four American soldiers killed during an ambush in Niger,
President Donald Trump said Monday he'd penned personal letters to their families and
planned to phone them later this week.He also claimed, without merit, that his predecessors
hadn't written or called the families of slain American troops during their tenures, though the tradition
of presidents reaching out after US servicemen are killed in action is long-established.
The March on the Pentagon.
Fifty years ago, tens of thousands of people gathered in Washington to protest the Vietnam War.
The October 1967 March on the Pentagon — immortalized in “The Armies of the Night,” Norman Mailer’s “non-fiction novel” — was at that point the largest antiwar rally ever staged. Coordinated by a coalition of antiwar groups known as the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (“the Mobe”), it brought between 70,000 and 100,000 protesters to Washington to pressure President Johnson to end the war. One key organizer, Jerry Rubin, who with Abbie Hoffman would soon launch the mischievous Yippie party, helped give the event its countercultural cast. He announced beforehand a stunt by the poet Allen Ginsberg and others to “levitate” the Pentagon — provoking curiosity, mockery and (as intended) headlines. The weekend began on Friday, Oct. 20, with a rally at the Justice Department where hundreds of draft cards were “returned,” followed by a fundraiser featuring Robert Lowell, Mailer and Dwight Macdonald. The next morning, under sunny and mild skies, tens of thousands of protesters, mostly white, middle-class and young, gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to hear Phil Ochs and Peter, Paul and Mary, along with the inevitable program of speeches.
Twelve days of silence, then a swipe at Obama: How Trump handled four dead soldiers
On Oct. 4, the day four U.S. Special Forces soldiers were gunned down at the border of
Niger and Mali in the deadliest combat incident since President Trump took office, the
commander in chief was lighting up Twitter with attacks on the “fake news” media.
Trump told widow of fallen soldier 'he knew what he signed up for'
President Donald Trump told the widow of a US serviceman killed in the ambush in Niger that
"he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt," according to Rep. Frederica Wilson.
The body of Sgt. La David Johnson was returned home to the Miami area late Tuesday
afternoon, with the plane receiving a water cannon salute as it arrived near the gate.
Wow. Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich
"This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward..."
Here is what he expressed: Coach Pop:
“I’ve been amazed and disappointed by so much of what this President had said, and his approach
to running this country, which seems to be one of just a never ending divisiveness. But his comments today about those who have lost loved ones in times of war and his lies that previous presidents
Obama and Bush never contacted their families, is so beyond the pale, I almost don’t have the
words. This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large
by belittling others. This has of course been a common practice of his, but to do it in this manner–
and to lie about how previous Presidents responded to the deaths of soldiers–is as low as it gets.
VA officials promise they're not looking at benefits cut this year
Confusion over the short-lived plan this week forced department leaders to issue a
letter to veterans groups clarifying they will not change the Individual Unemployability
program in fiscal 2018, and are looking for other cost-saving solutions in the future.
Trump, White House try to score political points with John Kelly's son, killed in action
Veterans victimized in $24M education scam, authorities say
A $24 million “bait and switch” college education scam -- targeting U.S. military
veterans -- could send two women to prison.
Editorial: ‘Problem’ doctors don’t belong in VA
When someone signs up to serve in the U.S. military, that person goes in with eyes open
knowing they might be sent to a foreign field, unfriendly waters, or dangerous skies. These are our
bravest citizens, and they go through extensive training. Still, once deployed they are never
absolutely certain what challenge, obstacle or life-and-death circumstance awaits. That
should never be the case when it comes to veterans and their health care.
The character, efficiency and overall quality of that care should
always be professional, above-board, and transparent for all concerned to see.
Use Certified Mail!!!
Department of Veterans Affairs
Claims Intake Center
PO BOX 4444
JANESVILLE, WI 53547- 4444
Toll Free Fax: 844-531-7818
Regional Loan Center Contact Information
Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment
Contact your VARO
Pension Management Centers
Education and Training
Regional Processing Offices
VA has three RPOs that handle GI Bill claims.
Veterans Administration Voluntary Service
Do you really want to help other veterans and their dependents? Do you want to help us fix the broken VA? Then get inside the belly of the beast as a volunteer.
The VAWatchdog is all about how to
manage Department of Veterans Affairs
disabled veterans benefits.
Visit often, don't let the bastards get you down.
Military Veterans
Intel, Information
The Board of Veterans' Appeals
US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
Legislation will help Pacific veterans
exposed to Agent Orange
How To Leak To ProPublica
Become a Freedom Fighter
Join the ACLU
VA starts domestic violence program
Department of Defense Extends
Online Military Exchange
Shopping Privileges to Veterans
CIA Freedom of Information Act
Electronic Reading Room
Disability Compensation Benefits
C-123 Aircraft andAgent Orange Exposure
Special Monthly Compensation
(SMC)
Veterans Online Shopping Benefit
The Exchange is excited to welcome Veterans
of all United States Armed Forces as
part of the Veterans online shopping benefit.
Vet Centers
Vet Centers provide community-based counseling, outreach, and referral services to eligibleVeterans who served in any combat zone and their families.
Veterans Health
VA researchers question whether traumatic
brain injuries lead to Alzheimer's
How a brain gets hooked on opioids
How one group of doctors drastically
decreased opioid prescriptions
Fibromyalgia: What you need to know
There’s even more evidence that one type of exercise is the closest thing we have to a miracle drug
My HealtheVet: Veteran care made easy
Federal agencies partner for military and
veteran pain management research
MRI twice as likely as biopsy to spot
prostate cancer, research shows
Veterans' Medical and Health Records
The White House Veterans
Complaint Line is open;
855-948-2311
Tip of the day...The White House hotline isn't in
the white houseand it's run exclusively by the VA.
Thanks Trump!
Mailing Addresses
Veterans Benefits Administration
Derivative Benefits Eligibility
The VA Benefit Eligibility Matrix
There are additional benefits that you may be
eligible for that are based on a favorable decision for
a VA benefit and/or based on special circumstances.
These are known as derivatives.